It has been found effacious to apply small quantities of a medicament in a liquid to surface such as teeth. Such devices are exemplified by the teachings of William B. Dragan in such U.S. Pat. as Nos. 3,900,954 and 6,059,570.
Additionally, such teachings also can be found in such U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,246,371; 5,286,257 and 5,816,804 all to Dan E. Fischer.
The teachings of said patentees are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
As flocking under the aegis of electrostatic attraction is a feature of the present invention, attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,257 to Stem who teaches a method of making brushes wherein an elongated member is first softened to provide an adherent surface and is then coated with very small bristles under the influence of electrostatic attraction. This patent is also incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Finally, a number of adhesive come to mind with regard to flocking of articles. The teachings in U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,179 to Moses et al exemplifies such applicable adhesives. This patent is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Electrostatic flocking of the end of a tube can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,737 to Gueret which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The present invention deals with a problem not heretofore been solved, i,e. the flocking of a tube to produce a controlled orifice opening of the tube in a predictable manner.
The present invention desirably results in a diminutive flow through nozzle tip that has at its delivery end a group of the minute bristles composed of a flock of fibers. The ends of the fibers are secured to an adhesive to permanently secure the flock in place.
The method includes activating the nozzle tip by treatment with a corona discharge when the nozzle tip is of plastic as opposed to a metal tube. In either case the nozzle tip is coated at an end portion with an adhesive which is hardenable by an additional component and/or by heat curing. The nozzle tip has air blown through intermittently during the adhesive coating process to keep the control of the amount of adhesive that can penetrate the nozzle, especially when the coating process is achieved by dipping the end of the nozzle tip directly into the adhesive. The adhesively coated nozzle tip is flocked with minute fibers under the aegis of electrostatic attraction whereby the flock fibers stick to the adhesive. Air is intermittently blown through the nozzle tip to keep the fibers from encroaching on the orifice of the nozzle tip.
Thereafter the flocked nozzle tip is transported to a heating zone where adhesive is hardened, i.e, cured.